Den's Gyokuro tips?

Just today I got a new order from Den's, the Sencha Shin Ryoku, Fuka mushi Maki, and Gyokuro Suimei. This is my first time trying to brew gyokuro, and it doesn't taste sweet at all, more salty than anything. It's got a lot of umami, but I'm sure I'm not brewing it to its full potential.

The instructions say 2oz at 140 degrees for 150sec. No mention of water amount. I brewed about 9oz in my Den's Shinsha kyusu, and it's ok, but uninspiring. Has anyone had good luck with some other parameters?

Muadeeb wrote: The instructions say 2oz at 140 degrees for 150sec. No mention of water amount. I brewed about 9oz in my Den's Shinsha kyusu, and it's ok, but uninspiring. Has anyone had good luck with some other parameters?

Sorry, I'm a bit confused. Can you clarify how many grams leaf and oz water you used?

Muadeeb wrote:Just today I got a new order from Den's, the Sencha Shin Ryoku, Fuka mushi Maki, and Gyokuro Suimei. This is my first time trying to brew gyokuro, and it doesn't taste sweet at all, more salty than anything. It's got a lot of umami, but I'm sure I'm not brewing it to its full potential.

The instructions say 2oz at 140 degrees for 150sec. No mention of water amount. I brewed about 9oz in my Den's Shinsha kyusu, and it's ok, but uninspiring. Has anyone had good luck with some other parameters?

I know this isnt how people generally do it around here but i did mine like this: 1tsp @ 175 for 4 min. poured over a strainer and it was sweet/complex/umami/ect. Im not an expert with trying any techniques but I really enjoyed how I did it. You could always do lower temperature (140) and steep longer. The trend on here, from what I can tell, is high temp in a gaiwan and fast steeping.

Muadeeb wrote: The instructions say 2oz at 140 degrees for 150sec. No mention of water amount. I brewed about 9oz in my Den's Shinsha kyusu, and it's ok, but uninspiring. Has anyone had good luck with some other parameters?

Sorry, I'm a bit confused. Can you clarify how many grams leaf and oz water you used?

I was confused too. The instructions don't mention how much water to use. I just put my usual 3.5g in my 9oz kyusu. I'll check out the thread posted above and see if I can improve my experience.

There are a number of different ways and opinions. Here is what we recommend based off of what the Japanese Tea Instructors Association recommends:

Very basically, you should have 1 gram of leaf for every 10 ml, so if using 5 grams, use 50 ml (1.7 fl oz). 40-60˚C degrees (100-140F).

This is just for the first steep, to get a concentrated infusion of the savory umami flavor. The lower temperature draws out less, so you steep it longer, the higher temperature draws out more and faster, but you start to get catechin which adds the bitterness of sencha.

When you get really good at this, you will be able to put any amount of leaf, and know just how much water you should have (about x2 the height of the leaf if using a small houhin tea pot), and the steep will be ready, when the level of the infused leaves becomes about even with the level of the water. This takes practice.

After this first steep, the catechin is still present in the leaf. Steep very quickly, 5-10 sec., at 80-90 C degrees. This is because the leaves will be ready to release the rest of their essence. And you will get enough of a flavor without steeping longer. Then you still have enough flavor in your leaf for another two steeps depending on the quality of the leaf.

There are a number of different ways and opinions. Here is what we recommend based off of what the Japanese Tea Instructors Association recommends:

Very basically, you should have 1 gram of leaf for every 10 ml, so if using 5 grams, use 50 ml (1.7 fl oz). 40-60˚C degrees (100-140F).

This is just for the first steep, to get a concentrated infusion of the savory umami flavor. The lower temperature draws out less, so you steep it longer, the higher temperature draws out more and faster, but you start to get catechin which adds the bitterness of sencha.

When you get really good at this, you will be able to put any amount of leaf, and know just how much water you should have (about x2 the height of the leaf if using a small houhin tea pot), and the steep will be ready, when the level of the infused leaves becomes about even with the level of the water. This takes practice.

After this first steep, the catechin is still present in the leaf. Steep very quickly, 5-10 sec., at 80-90 C degrees. This is because the leaves will be ready to release the rest of their essence. And you will get enough of a flavor without steeping longer. Then you still have enough flavor in your leaf for another two steeps depending on the quality of the leaf.